(Reuters) — Mt. Gox, once the world's
biggest bitcoin exchange, is likely to be liquidated after a Tokyo court
dismissed the company's bid to resuscitate its business, the
court-appointed administrator said on Wednesday.

CEO Mark Karpeles is also likely to be investigated for liability
in the collapse of the Tokyo-based firm, the provisional
administrator, lawyer Nobuaki Kobayashi, said in a statement
published on the Mt. Gox website.

"The Tokyo District Court recognized that it would be difficult for
the company to carry out the civil rehabilitation proceedings and
dismissed the application for the commencement of the civil
rehabilitation proceedings," he said.

Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in Japan in
late February, saying it may have lost some 850,000 bitcoins — worth
around $454 million at today's rates — due to hacking into its
computer system. It later said it had found 200,000 of those
bitcoins.

In Wednesday's order for provisional administration, the court put
the company's assets under Kobayashi's control until bankruptcy
proceedings officially commence and a bankruptcy trustee is named.

"It is expected that, if the bankruptcy proceedings commence, an
investigation regarding the liability of the representative director
of the company will be conducted as part of the bankruptcy
proceedings," it said.

Kobayashi did not refer to an offer made last month by a group of
investors, including former child actor-turned entrepreneur Brock
Pierce, to take over Mt. Gox. But he said such offers would be taken
into consideration.

The court's decision comes after Karpeles' lawyers told a U.S.
federal judge this week that he is not willing to travel to the
United States to answer questions about the bitcoin exchange's U.S.
bankruptcy case.